TASTE THE HAPPY! ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT Creator Mitch Hurwitz Will Direct the Movie and Reveals a Few Details About the Plot!

At the beginning of this month, I reported an “Arrested Development” story without much enthusiasm because it was aboutwhat we’ve already heard for a while now: the movie is getting made and Mitch is working on the script. But tonight real news about the film landed online and even thought it’s minor by regular standards, for an “Arrested Development” movie it’s like stumbling onto a cooler with the name “MADDAS” written on the side. Hit the jump to find out what the Bluths will be up to.

Last Saturday afternoon at the Paramount Theater in Austin Texas, Mitch Hurtiwz, Ron Howard, and Steve Zaillian sat down for a panel titled “The Art of Storytelling” moderated by producer Marcia Nasatir. Austin Movie Blog [via The Playlist] reported two major piece of “Arrested Development” news which came out of this panel, the first bit of news what we had already assumed was a strong possibility: show creator and co-writer of the film Mitch Hurwitz would direct the movie. There was the chance that having series producer and narrator Ron Howard take the helm but since he has so many more projects to handle, Hurwitz, despite never having directed an episode of the series (although neither did Howard), seems the best choice.

But then the BIG news: Prodded by Nasatir, Hurwitz revealed the first details of the story. According to the article, Hurwitz had this to say:

Hurwitz relented to Nasatir, and said, that there would be a heavy jail presence and then made jokes about the inclusion of TARP money, a nod to the inability of a film to be as timely as television due to lag times in production and release.

Now the part of this that really grabs me is “jokes about the inclusion of TARP money”. AD was always able to have episodes integrate jokes and plot elements from current events and do so while the events still remained fresh in the minds of viewers. While I’m sure Americans will be able to remember “TARP” and AD fans will instantly understand why it opens the door for such fantastic comedy. Of course, if Hurwitz plans to draw from the well of our current economic crisis, the fact that the Bluths’ company is in real estate development offers up the opportunity for some serious digs at the mortgage crisis and the housing bubble. It would also bring the series full circle since AD came from the zeitgeist of corporate scandals of Enron and WorldCom. When those scandals are so small compared to our current nationwide disaster, a movie does seem appropriate.

I wanted to end this article with an appropriate “Arrested Development” quote but I’m too excited to think of one. I don’t want to blow this out of proportion but when news like this comes along for this movie, it’s huge.